Systems
Ideas for possible incorporation: * Allowing casters to cast spells with no spell slots remaining, but with grave consequence Technical Rules Flanking For a creature to be considered Flanked, it must have at least two enemy creatures in base contact on opposite sides of the model, with no more than a 45 degree offset from each other. Surprise & Surprise Rounds A surprise round happens when the creature(s) being surprised have no idea where their danger is originating from and are not prepared for combat. Creatures with the Alert feat will always participate in surprise rounds, though they will still go on their normal initiative during the round. A creature is considered Surprised in combat if the current round is a surprise round and the creature isn’t participating in the round. A creature is considered Surprised outside of combat if it is not aware of any danger to itself (e.g. failed a perception check to see anyone and is not actively looking/watching for attackers). If it is watching and waiting to be attacked when combat starts, initiative is rolled as normal and combat begins. Note that if a creature perceives another that appears to be threatening before it attacks, this cancels any surprise rounds for the ambusher or anyone else, as the creature would be aware that it is in danger and would be acting on its initiative at that point. Custom Systems Jake's Search System: * Map is divided into numbered hexes * Each hex is about 1 square mile * To search a hex fully takes about half a day * Travel across a hex depends on terrain Alternative Combat System (Main Article) * Combat is divided into two Phases ** First phase is either Movement or Immediate Action for all combatants ** Second phase is Actions and any leftover movement ** Reactions may be taken at any point * No initative rolls in the first round - all combatants declare their actions (players first, then DM) and resolve at once. The creature that initiated combat declares their action first. * Movement is resolved with theater of mind primarily, with all characters moving at once. If necessary, break movement into half-phases, with first half of all movements resolved, then second half afterwards. * If a player is taking an Immediate Action, they may not make a reaction until after all immediate actions are resolved. (May take out: consider Shield, Deflect Missiles, & Battlemaster maneuvers vs. Counterspell) * In second phase, initiative is rolled for any Actions left, and combat is resolved with Actions first (in order), followed by movement. * Bonus actions can be taken for free during either the Immediate Action phase, or the Action phase. * Dash can only be taken once per Action phase. If a third Dash action is taken, it is resolved during the final movement phase. * Speaking or responding to another player takes either a Bonus Action or a Reaction. Experience & DM Inspiration Combat Experience XP is awarded as defined by Kobold Fight Club using the adjusted XP values based on encounter difficulty. Killshots will be awarded an extra (25 * char. lv.) XP for a cool “how do you want to do this”; note that this only happens on an enemy boss monster or at my discretion. If a monster is faced but isn’t killed, the XP is awarded based on the remaining health of the monster. The most characters can get without the kill is 75% of the adjusted XP allotment. Social Encounters & Skill Challenges Social encounters where the party is required or given the option to talk their way out of a situation can award XP. If it is a monster that was intended as (or could have been) a combat enemy, then the XP is equal to 25-50% of the adjusted XP allotment that would have been given upon the killing of the creature. Successful skill challenges, such as resurrections, abnormal magical situations, feats of strength, street chases, etc, can award XP as well. This is defined afterwards for skill challenges, somewhere in the range of 1 to 3 slashes per character who completed it. RP Slashes Keep track of RPing XP. Being at a session and being in character for most of the session awards a passive 1 slash-mark per session. Slashes are worth (25xp * char. lv.). RP Slashes are awarded when: * Players act out a situation convincingly and totally in-character (note, the character must either speak or describe their actions as appropriate) * Players complete an entire social interaction in-character without metagaming or slipping into their normal voice at all (note, the character must either speak or describe their actions as appropriate) * Players act against their own knowledge, but in-line with what their characters know Meta Slashes Deducted when players have been metagaming. Each infraction is worth (20xp * char. Lv.), with severe infractions being worth two or three of these. Meta-slashes are deducted when: * Players slip out of character to discuss how many hit-points have been taken off a creature * A player consciously declares what the AC or another numerical statistic on a creature is * A player uses their own personal knowledge of the game, the landscape, creatures, statistics, or other things to influence their characters’ decisions. (Personal class rules are not included, though inappropriate knowledge of another character’s class is.) * Players discuss a situation or a plan of action outside of character in normal voice * Players speak (in or out of character) to another character who is not physically in the same location or within hearing range of their character * A player argues with the DM (being defined as strongly contesting a point of the rules that isn’t defined in the house rules or in the official 5e rulebooks - arguing with a defined rule is arguably worse) DM Inspiration Awarded when a player does something I find particularly cool, in-character, or confident. Must fit the situation: meaning, it must be a situation that would inspire, fortify, or strengthen the character in question. Essentially used as a free Bardic Inspiration from me based on a situation. Generally would happen in battle, or if someone told a particularly convincing story or lie in a social interaction. These can be awarded to another character if the situation fits it (e.g. Scanlan kissing Pike and saying “Let’s go” might award Pike with DM inspiration if RP’d well and if the characters’ relationship would agree with it). DC’s versus Advantage When a player does something to try and influence the outcome of their roll that goes beyond allowing them to make the roll itself (e.g. using Thaumaturgy to aid in an Intimidation check), they do not necessarily gain advantage on it. The DC of the roll is lowered by a factor dependent on the RPing of the character up to that point in the challenge. Previous high rolls or natural 20s in the same challenge can also influence in this way. The DC can change by as much as ten points depending on what is done, though five is much more likely. Category:Rules Category:All Category:Homebrew Rules